No walk in the park for Gonzalez

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If a walk were as good as a hit, Adrian Gonzalez's slump would seem like a streak.

The Padres' prolific first baseman has lost 37 points of batting average since May 16, from .302 to .265, but he's accumulated so many bases on balls during this span that his on-base percentage has actually improved.

So San Diego's favorite rhetorical question — Why does anyone dare to pitch to this guy? — has recently received the appropriate response: When in doubt, you don't.

“The last 3½ weeks or so, I've noticed a change in how they're attacking him,” Padres manager Bud Black said yesterday. “I think you can look at pitch sequences, types of pitches, pitchers coming out of their own style, doing something different than what they usually do, (but) during the course of an at-bat, you can tell they're being cautious.”

Why now? Why not?

“There comes a point where teams aren't going to let it happen because they let it happen last year or they let it happen early in the year this year,” Black said. “Finally, teams might say, enough.”

Gonzalez drew no walks during the Padres' bee-infested 7-2 loss to the Houston Astros yesterday, but he did reach base by being hit with a pitch, he does share the major-league lead in ball fours with St. Louis' Albert Pujols (64) and he already owns the record for the most consecutive games with multiple walks (8).

These distinctions don't make much difference, however, to an ardent hitter like Adrian Gonzalez. Down deep, the Border Bopper is about doing damage rather than maintaining discipline.

“That's what really started getting to me was everybody was talking about the walks, walks, walks, and so I started playing a little passively instead of being aggressive,” Gonzalez said. “I don't see myself as a guy who wants to lead the league in walks. I'm a guy who wants to swing the bat.”

The recurring quandary of the elite hitter is whether to expand the strike zone or entrust others to produce under pressure. Though few hitters find swinging at balls to be a sustainable business model, these Padres are probably better off with Adrian Gonzalez swinging at balls than they would be with anyone else hitting off a tee.

No major-league team has scored fewer runs or maintained a lower batting average than the Home Team. Only the Oakland A's own a lower slugging percentage. Part of the responsibility of hitting in the middle of baseball's least lethal lineup is an imperative to make things happen because you know the next guy probably won't.

To some extent, this approach is self-defeating. To a large extent, it helps explain why Gonzalez is hitting just .216 (albeit with 44 walks) since his third-inning single in the Padres' 16-inning victory over the Reds on May 16.

“I think he does feel some responsibility to our production because of what he's done in the past and what he's capable of doing,” Black said. “It's a tough one for him 'cause I think he does realize what he can do with balls out of the strike zone, added with the responsibility that he feels from hitting in the middle of the order, but it's not easy to consistently get knocks on balls out of the zone against pitchers on this level.”

Gonzalez, intensely analytical, disputes the notion that his statistical slippage is the product of indiscriminate or inferior swings. Though he has struck only two home runs since June 2, and yesterday took a two-strikeout 0-for-3, Gonzalez thinks he has generally been hitting the ball just as hard lately, but with lousier luck.

“I feel like I hit the ball really well in June,” he said. “There (were) just a lot of outs. The last few days are the first time in a year, the last
couple
of years, that I haven't felt great at the plate. The Seattle series, I hit the ball probably as good as I've hit all year long. (But) I hit more balls at people than I hit not at people.”

Agent John Boggs suspects his client could get a little “sedentary” from seeing so many balls. Another set of eyes might perceive anxiety; a heightened urgency to pounce on those pitches that stray into the strike zone.

“I always kind of joke with him: ‘Remember Adrian, patience is a virtue,’ ” Boggs said. “But it's easy for me to say, ‘Be disciplined, be patient.’ If your game is to be aggressive, patience (causes) you to start losing a little bit of aggressiveness. And if you go up there knowing they're going to pitch around you, are you really locked in when someone throws you a strike?”

Yesterday, Gonzalez took a called third strike for the last out of the fifth inning. Afterward, he lingered at home plate to chat with umpire Laz Diaz, but admitted later to difficulties picking up the ball out of the hand of pitcher Wandy Rodriguez.

“It's a learning process,” Gonzalez said, in summary. “It just comes down to I have to be ready to hit every pitch.”